Special Economic Zones – China’s Great Open Door

Throughout the 1980s, China had one of the fastest growing economies in the world. From 1980-1990, China’s annual growth rate of its GDP was 9.5 percent, compared to a global growth rate of a mere 3.1 percent (Wei). This rapid growth wouldn’t slow down into the 1990s, but rather, actually increase, reaching 12.5 percent by the year 1992 (Wei). This rapid growth in the nation’s economy can primarily be attributed to the emergence and growth of Special Economic Zones, which first emerged following the introduction of China’s Open-Door Policy (Wang). The emergence of this rapid growth in China, bolstered by the opening up of the economy in the 1980s and the advent of the Special Economic Zones, would help foreshadow the globalized, neoliberal era that would manifest following the end of the Cold War.

China’s economic rapid economic growth emerged in 1978, following the opening up of the nation’s doors to the outside world for trade. This Open-Door Policy – a policy that starkly contrasts with the nation’s economically isolated, state controlled system prior to 1978 – primarily involved the decentralization of government control on trade; replacing restrictions on imports and exports with tariffs, quotas, and licensing; and loosening controls on foreign exchange (Wei). However, perhaps most important was the development of Special Economic Zones, specific regions designated for trade and exports so as to attract foreign investors (Wei). These Special Economic Zones generally contain more liberal laws and economies policies, particularly in contrast to much of the nation’s other locations. This allowed foreign investors to get more property rights protections, tax breaks, and preferential land policies, resulting in more efficiency and alluring prospects of high profits for said foreign investors (Wang).

The advent of the Open Door Policy and Special Economic Zones, in a sense, was critical for the end of the Cold War and the emergence of the neoliberal, globalized culture that would emerge in the 1990s. China, which alongside the Soviet Union was one of the pillars of the Communist bloc, opening its doors to foreign capitalist investment while keeping its governmental structures intact ultimately hastened the demise of the Cold War machinery of the Soviet style. An important factor during the creation of China’s new policies was the Chinese government propagandizing to its people about how China had changed and that the development of Special Economic Zones would benefit the nation, with the use of pieces such as the 1987 poster Economic Zones – China’s Great Open Door assisting in this process.

The poster Economic Zones – China’s Great Open Door was developed to help convince the Chinese population on the benefits of introducing Special Economic Zones into the nation. It uses the traditional red Chinese doors to represent a connection to the nation and its culture. These doors then open up to an image of skyscrapers, seemingly representing Special Economic Zones and, in a sense, the successful future of China. The flags fluttering above the skyscrapers only serve to emphasize this image of a globalized, successful China, wealthy and connected to the rest of the world, in contrast to its more isolated past. In the end, pieces of propaganda such as this and others spurred the Chinese economy forward with rapid growth and served in developing China into the economic power it is today.